Sunset Sermon

It was late the sun had set almost an hour ago. I headed home from hunting with some friends. The night was quiet. I enjoyed walking. I enjoyed listening to the night sounds. The crickets as they called for each other and the small animals scurrying back and forth. I was carrying my gun across my shoulder. I was tired but it was the kind of tired from good work. My friends and I had been rabbit hunting all day. We had been traipsing through the underbrush trying to flush those little furry bundles of greased lightning. We had each gotten at least two apiece. It was not the hunting that we enjoyed so much as the companionship.

Joe and I had served together and we both had hunted much more dangerous things than what was in any forest. David and I had met when I was doing some bodyguard work. He was a no nonsense type of person while on the job. He was very professional when working but loved to relax with friends. He could leave the job at work and be very relaxed around his friends. This was necessary for a police officer. Thom was the odd ball of the group he was at least ten years younger than the rest of us. A young man with a zest for life that appealed to the rest of us that had seen too much of the underbelly of man. We had taken him under our wing and showed him the outdoors. He was a city kid born and raised. Dave had met him during a case. They had hit it off and became fast friends and he introduced Thom to the rest of us.

I had given my take to the others, as I had neither the time nor inclination to prepare them to eat. I was enjoying the walk home reliving the day in my mind when I saw a light in the field just ahead of me. I realized that this was the cemetery. Now who would be in there at this time I thought to myself. I decided to see who it was. There had been some cemeteries that were vandalized recently. If this were someone up to mischief, they would be in for a rude surprise.

I climbed over the low wall that surrounded the graveyard. I moved stealthily towards the light I saw. Using the headstones to mask my movement I lost sight of the light. I was most of the way into the center of the cemetery. Now where had they gotten to I wondered. I let my eyes scan my surroundings trying to locate the light or a shadow out of place.

Suddenly the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I pivoted letting the muzzle of my rifle lead the way. There in front of me was a ball of light floating off the ground a couple of feet. It floated there for a second and then moved off. I chuckled, ball lightning of all things. I have only seen it a couple of times. It bounced along the top of the headstones. It was moving towards the church that was beside the graveyard. I decided to follow along and make sure it didn’t do any damage.

It hit the window on the side of the building and seemed to pass through it. That was odd normally ball lightning just dissipated. I went around the front to see if I could get in to see if it did any damage inside. To my surprise, the door opened under my hand. I walked into the foyer. I stopped to let my eyes adjust to the even darker interior. I then walked into the main part of the church. It always amazed me how even if it was quiet it was always quieter inside a church.

There at the altar was the ball of lightning just hanging there bobbing up and down. I stood there and watched for a couple of minutes. Suddenly it seemed to elongate and I could see the shape of a man inside the glowing ball. I took a step forward. What was that? Suddenly the ball disappeared only to be replaced by flames. The man opened his mouth as if to scream but nothing came out. He stood there burning to death doing nothing. I dropped my rifle and ran forward to assist.

I jumped at him to knock him to the floor and put out the flames. Instead of the solid impact, I expected, I went sailing right through him and hit the altar. I don’t remember anything after that. Next thing I knew, someone was roughly shaking me awake. I looked up into the face of a State Trooper.

I tried to explain what had happened but the more I talked the stranger the trooper looked at me. I finally shut up and he told me a parishioner that had found me called him. The parishioner had come in to clean the church for Sunday’s service and found me lying on the floor and my gun at the back of the room. After the usual questions about drinking and an impromptu sobriety test, he let me go.

I picked up my rifle and headed out the door. On the walk home, I thought about the things I had seen and shook my head. Maybe I had imagined the man and the flames. When I got home, I thought about it some more and I couldn’t shake it. I knew what I had seen. I decided to check into it a little more. I turned on my computer and performed an internet search.

Suddenly there on the screen before me was the man I had seen burning. The hair stood up on the back of my neck again and I turned around to see if there was someone there. There was no one. I turned back to the monitor. There on the screen was the story of a priest who had burned to death in that church. I read on. He had been in the church preparing the sermon when lightning had come through the open window and set the church on fire. He perished in the ensuing blaze. They found his body near the altar, the same exact spot where I had seen him.

The new church was built on the same spot where the old church stood.

I don’t walk past there any more, at least not at night. I don’t tell anyone about it either. Some things people just can’t believe.